Iranians express frustration as West shows no sign of easing tough economic sanctions

BAGHDAD — Talks between Iran and six world powers on its disputed nuclear program failed to produce a breakthrough Thursday in what appeared to be a disappointment to the Iranian side, which had hoped for an easing of the onerous economic sanctions imposed by the West.

But both sides sought to frame the two days of difficult negotiations in a positive way, asserting that they had greater understanding of each other’s positions and agreeing to reconvene in Moscow on June 18 and 19. That will be the third such meeting since the talks resumed in Istanbul in April after a 15-month lapse and could be the last before tougher sanctions are scheduled to take effect on Iran’s oil industry, the country’s economic lifeline.

“What we have now is some common ground, and a meeting in place where we can take that further forward,” said Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s top foreign policy official and the lead negotiator for the six powers — the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. Still, she told reporters at a news conference in Baghdad, “significant problems remain.”

The chief Iranian negotiator, Saeed Jalili, the secretary of Iran’s National Security Council and the personal representative of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, described the talks as positive. But he suggested in his remarks to reporters that the main obstacle to progress was the other side’s refusal to accept Iran’s claimed right to enrich its own nuclear fuel, which it has continued to do despite four Security Council resolutions demanding a suspension.

There had been some Iranian expectations going into the Baghdad talks that the United States was prepared to soften its position on uranium enrichment by acknowledging Iran was entitled to process uranium to 3.5 percent purity under international supervision for use in civilian reactors.

But the position of all six powers — that Iran suspend all its uranium enrichment as the Security Council has demanded — remained the same at the Baghdad talks.